Humidifier for carburetors



F. MOENCH HUMIDIFIER FOR CARBURETORS Feb. 3. 1925.

Filed-Sept. 17, 1923 Patented Feb. 3, 1925.

PATENT i OFFICE.

FREDERICK MOENCI-I, F WINNEBAGO, MINNESOTA.

HUMIDIFIER FOB CARBURETORS.

Applioationnled September 17, 11523. SeaLNo. 663,270.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FREDERICK MOENGH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Winnebago, in the county of Faribault and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Humidifier for Oarburetors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same.

My invention relatesl to internal combustion engines and more particularly to means for humidifying or moistening the air which is mixed with the gasoline to provide the fuel to be fed to the cylinders of the engine.

Divers means heretofore have been devised for moistening this gaseous mixture, some of which have more or less accomplished the function for which they were designed, and in many instances av perceptible increase in the efficiency ofthe motor has been noted. In most instances, however, it hasbeen the practice to withdraw steam or hot moist air from the Iradiator or some similar place and discharge the same into the gaseous mixture already formed as it lpasses vfrom the carburetor to the engine cylinders, usually by providing an aperture in the engine intake manifold and connecting the steam feed pipe thereto. It is obvious that any foreign matter that might be in the Water or radiator is very liable to and often does clog this feed pipe, and these substances alsol may be conveyed to the engine cylinders from which it could not be easily removed or dislodged and would in time damage thecylinders or pistons, or both.

In designing my .device I have made provision for preventing foreignmatter entering the fuel system and have. installed the structure in such manner that the air being fed to the carburetor is humidiiied before it is mixed with the vaporized gasolinein the carburetor. I also feed v the moisture, usually water, to the point of discharge in the air intake pipe by capillarity and lead the water by a suitable wick from the reservoir and pass the Wick through said pipe so that the air drawn through the latter will take up the moisture as it rushes ast the wet wick and thus become humidi ed.

In this manner the foreign particles that may be in the Water will notbe dislodged into the air pipe as they cannot be actuated or elevated by capillarity, and in order to prevent lint or pieces of the wick being thrown off I protect the latter with a fine mesh wire screen or the like. If desired, a suitable anti-carbon solution may be mixed with the water so that small quantities of the same is being constantly fed to the cylinders during the operation of thecarburetor. n

The divers objects of my invention reside in providing a humidifier that is extremely simple in construction so that it will be inexpensive to fabricate and cantherefore be retailed for a moderate price; that is a unitary structure and may be readily installed by unskilled persons without the use of special tools; that is dependable and efiicient in operation; and which has no moving parts to get out of order.

I prefer to carry out my vinvention and accomplish the foregoing and other objects by means of the structure hereinafter fully described and as more particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being had to vthe accompanying drawings that form a partof this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of an internal combustion engine ofV a well-known type showing the application of my humidifier thereto.

Fig. 2 is a lhorizontal section of my humidiier drawn full-size and showing the manner of attaching the same to the air intake pipe-that leads to the carburetor.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the structure illustrated in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, that illustrate a typical or preferred embodiment ofmy invention, I have designated similar parts by the same reference characters wherever said parts occurI throughout the several views. y

Figure 1 illustrates schematically a side elevation of a typical internal combustion engine, the en ine block or casing being identified by t e numeral 5,1the exhaust manifold by the numeral 6, the carburetor by the numeral 7 and the intake or feed manifold by the numeral 8, the latter leading from the discharge ,stub of the carburetor to the respective cylinders of the engine. The air intake pipe- 10 discharges into the stub 11 ofthe carburetor opposite the discharge stub 9'and its'V upper portion is enlarged kand formed into a hood 12 that surrounds a portion of the exhaust manifold 6 and is spaced therefrom to permit air to enter therebetween innthe direction of the arrows.V The temperature of this air is raised by its contact with the adjacent parts of the engine and the exhaust manifold and is heated before it passes from pipe Y10 into the carburetor;

My humidifier comprises a Vsuitably shaped reservoir 13 elongated vertically and preferably of rectangular shape except that one of its vertical walls may be formed concave as shown at 14 in the drawings so that it will conform to the contour of the air intake pipe lG'to which it is secured and with which it preferably contacts. The top wall of the reservoir is provided with an aperture and feed spout 15 that is threaded to receive a'removable closure cap 16. When the reservoir is positioned against the pipe 10 as illustrated it is held in place by a clamping band or strap 17Y that surrounds the same about-midway its hei ht and partially encircles the pipe 10. aid band or strap 17 has laterally bent ends or ears 18 that are apertured to receive the shank of a bolt 19 which is held in place by va nut 20 sothat the lateral ends or ears 18 may be drawn towards each other to firmly clamp the reservoir 13 to the pipe 10.

The wall 14 next the pipe l0 is provided with a hole 21 through which a wick 22 is passed, said wick being of any suitable material that willreadily lend itself to feed the iiuid in the reservoir by capillarity and it is long enough to extend to the bottom of the reservoir at its inner end and across the pipe 10 at its opposite or outer end. Preferably alining apertures 23 and 24 are made in the pipe 10 diametrically opposite each other, the aperture 23 registering with'the hole 21 in the reservoir, and the wick 22 passes through aperture 23 and then across the interior of the pipe to the opposite aperture 24 where its end is secured in any suit-able manner. For the purpose of slightly compacting the wick where it is positioned in the pipe 10, I surround the same with a suitable vvire gauze or wire mesh 25, or other reticulated element, which prevents pieces of lint or portions of the wick being drawn off into the pipe 10 by the air which rushes past the same.

Thus it will be seen that when' water or other liquid is placed in the reservoir the capillarity of the wick carries the same into the pipe 10 across the path vof the air being fed tothe carbureto-r and the air'takes'up the moisture and carries it into the carbureto-r where the humidified air is mixed with the vaporized gasoline and creates a more efficient mixture of fuel for the engine. It will be obvious, however, that 'divers changes or modifications of the structure I have herein shown YVand described Vmay be madeV without departing from the principle of my invention. I therefore desire it understood that all suchchanges or modications are fully 'contemplated as coming within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A humidifier for carburetors comprising an apertured air intake pipe for the carburetor, an apertured liquid containing reservoir adjacent said pipe, and a wick one end thereof immersed in the liquid in said reservoir and the opposite end passes trans-V Versely through said pipe.

2. The combination with a carburetor and air intake pipe therefor, said pipe having an aperture, of a fluid container contiguous said pipe having an ,aperture adjacent the aperture in said pipe, and a wick immersed in the fluid in said reservoir and extending therefrom through the apertures in said container and pipe and across'said pipe wherec by the moisture therefrom humidiiesV the air passing through the latter. c j

3. A humidifier for carburetors comprising an air intake pipe, a liquid lreservoir having a concave wallftting against said pipe, said Wall and said pipe respectively provided with registeringy apertures, fand a wick in said reservoir a portion of which 'is passed through said apertures and extends transversely through said pipe.

4. A humidifier for carburetorscomprising an air intake pipe, a liquid reservoir having va concave Wall fitting against said pipe, said wall and said pipe respectively provided with registering apertures, a wick in said reservoir al portion of which passes through said apertures and yextends transversely `through said pipe, and a reticulated element within said pipe and surrounding said wick whereb to prevent so-lid matter from said wick andreservoir'passing through said pipe. f

5. A humidifier for carburetors comprising a reservoir having-an apertured wall, and a wick immersed in the liquid contained in said reservoir and extended out through the apertured wall, 'said extended end of said wick passing through the air intake pipe of the carburetor.

6. A humidifier for carburetors comprising a reservoir having an apertured wall, a wick immersed in the liquid in said reservoir and extended out through the apertured wall, and a reticulated element surrounding the onterpportion of said wick the said element and the portion of the wickfsurrounded take pipe of the carburetor.

7. A humidier for carburetors compris- Signed at Brownsdale, county of Mower ing a reservoir having an apertured wall, and State of Minnesota, this 10th day of a wick surrounded by a, woven wire fabric, August, 1923.

thereby compacting the outer portiorithere- FREDERICK MOENCH. 5 of, immersedA in the liquid in said reservoir Witnesses:

and .extended out through the apertured H. J GRANT,

wall. `E. RORMAN. 

